


blame

by dasyuridae



Series: drabbles with lower case titles to seem edgy [3]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Short One Shot, well angst adjacent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 18:19:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14959716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasyuridae/pseuds/dasyuridae
Summary: i was going to just post this ontumblrbut then i realised it fit well into my lil series so here we are! i wrote this at 1am with a whole bag of peanuts and 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' on repeat so its a little gratuitous, but enjoy!





	blame

**Author's Note:**

> i was going to just post this on [tumblr](https://itsbluejeansbitch.tumblr.com/post/174971310114/blame) but then i realised it fit well into my lil series so here we are! i wrote this at 1am with a whole bag of peanuts and 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' on repeat so its a little gratuitous, but enjoy!

Taako knew as soon as the door opened that he had come to the right place. People were normally excited to see him, their faces lighting up. This woman’s face fell when she saw him. She was a dwarf, an apron wrapped around her waist and her hair piled in a messy bun on top of her head.   
“Taako.” she said, looking him up and down. Behind her was a mess of kids toys and shouts could be heard from down the hallway. It was nice, the house. Big, with a well tended garden and a chimney that had smoke curling from it.  
Taako’s arms were crossed, his fingers tapping a nervous beat on his bare arm. “Yeah. I- uh.”  
The woman nodded curtly at him. “It means a lot that you’ve come. Come inside, we can talk. I’m Maria.” She turned and walked back into the house so he followed, skirting around the toys and walking into the warm kitchen. 

There was another woman in there, a halfling, cooking with a baby propped on her hip. Two boys were sitting at the tall dining table but Maria waved them away, so they hopped down and scuttled out the room, staring at Taako curiously.   
“Taako.” the other woman said, with slightly more of a smile than Maria had. He gave her a quick nod and a taut smile, then took a seat opposite Maria.     
“I never knew if you’d come.” Maria said. She had a wise look to her, a life-weary glint to her eye. “After that day- well, there was a lot of hatred in this house. I’m sure you understand.”  
Taako nodded. “I never - I think if I’d  _known_  it would have been different. I didn’t think it was such a big deal, to forget. It took it happening to me to realise.”  
Maria shrugged. “We don’t blame you, Taako. We just want acknowledgement, I think. You seven saved the world. You saved the universe and everyone thanks you for that. But you destroyed  _my_  world, and it’s fucking hard to find it in my heart to forgive all of you.”   
“I don’t expect you to. I- I haven’t forgiven Lucretia, for what she did to me. I don’t want forgiveness. I just want you to know that I understand, and I will do what I can for you. When it happened I was callous. Fuck, I look back at that me and I sort of hate him. I’m sorry, Maria. I really am.”  
She nodded. “Thank you.” That thank you meant the world to him. Taako clung to it in his mind. It was a small plaster on a gaping wound, but it was something. An olive branch from one broken person to another. Forgiveness, or the start of it.   
He smiled gently. “If it makes you feel any better, it’s a small thing, but all of his children are welcome at my school.”  
Maria laughed a little. “All four hundred and thirteen of them?”  
Taako sputtered. “Fuck! Four- Alright, okay. Sure. Why not, I’ll take all the little buggers.”  
She smiled, the first proper smile he’d seen from her and he relaxed, standing up. “Leaving so soon?” Maria asked.  
“Yeah I’m not so good with kids.” Taako shrugged. “I basically have one now and I still don’t know what the fuck to do with him.” He felt that she knew why he was really leaving. Asking forgiveness was one thing. Finding it, staring in the eyes of someone you’d wronged, that was different. You couldn’t do it for too long.  _He_  couldn’t do it for too long. There was too much weight in something like that.   
“Well,” said Maria as she lead him down the long hallway. “come back whenever you want. Might be good to get some practice.”   
Taako nodded as he stepped out the door, back into the weak winter sunlight. “You know, he had a funeral. I don’t know if they told you, but everyone came. They all loved him.”  
Maria looked at him, that world-weariness in her eyes again. “Everyone loved Boyland, Taako. We all did. And now we do, again, and no less for it.”  
Taako turned around and walked away, out of the garden with its swing and apple tree. He walked away from the house full of people just like him - people who had loved and lost and loved again. He walked with a spring in his step, a weight off his shoulders. To not be blamed was a beautiful thing, but to remember was better.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! I finally got a taz sideblog so come check out my writing and general taz stuff over [there](https://itsbluejeansbitch.tumblr.com/)


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